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On the navy importing 104 anti-aircraft missiles worth $5.72 million by projecting it as a requirement for the Kargil war, the CAG, in its latest report tabled in Parliament, said: "Unnecessary procurement of missiles for Kargil operations resulted in avoidable expenditure of Rs 24.77 crore [Rs 247.7 million]."
"The rates contracted were more than twice those of 1996," the report said.
The CAG said 34,000 explosive cartridges were imported by the air force during Op Vijay. However, the items were costlier than those indigenously manufactured by the ordnance factories.
It also rapped the army for buying sub-standard stores worth Rs 3.12 crore [Rs 31.2 million], which had an "adverse impact" on the ongoing insurgency operations.
On the import of the naval missiles, the CAG said it was done on a single-tender basis, unlike the imports of the same missiles by the army, which had considered four offers.
It said while the army had paid $28,000 per missile to the same firm in March 1996, the naval missiles were procured at $54,000.
The navy had projected a long-term requirement for 240 anti-aircraft missiles during the ninth plan and even after the Kargil war, the navy had 312 of these missiles in stock, the report said.
Similarly, the IAF had projected the import on 34,000 cartridges as an urgent requirement during Op Vijay and the deal was concluded with a foreign firm at the cost of Rs 749 per cartridge.
Though the cartridges were required to be supplied in 1999 when the Kargil war was on, they were delivered in March 2001.
PTI ALSO SEE The Kargil Crisis: The Complete Coverage
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